The Burnside Bridge was built at a cost of $2,300 by John Weaver and was originally called the Rohersbach Bridge. In 1862 it gained lasting fame during The Battle of Antietam. A small force of Confederate riflemen held General Ambrose Burnside’s entire Army Corps at bay for over four hours, giving reinforcements from Harper’s Ferry time to reach General Lee. Every year thousands of visitors from all over the world cross the authentically restored 125-foot bridge, with its sand-and-gravel roadbed and wooden parapets. A large, carefully maintained sycamore “Witness Tree” overlooks the bridge, one of 16 “living witnesses” to momentous events on this and other Civil War battlefields.